In an era of hypersensitivity to copyright infringement, it can be tough to …

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As various forms of media have gone digital, it has become far easier to make exact copies of material, including material that happens to be under copyright. Content owners have attempted to restrict the copying of this media through laws like the DMCA and legal campaigns against file-sharing, but these efforts have often ignored the concept of fair use entirely. A group of academics involved in media studies has now issued a series of fair use best practices, some of which apply to an audience well beyond the group that drafted the document.

The field of media studies is expected to be especially sensitive to fair use, as the text of the guidelines notes. The basic material it covers will often be covered by copyright, meaning that even the preparing of a course outline or readying lecture materials will often involve making copies of copyrighted text, images, music, or videos. Any class assignments are likely to require that their students wind up duplicating copyrighted works, too. As a result, it's no surprise that the field is especially sensitive to copyright and fair use.

That said, parts of the work read like a defense of the academic worthiness of media studies. An entire section is dedicated to describing the field, and it contains the self-congratulatory statement, "Media literacy education helps people of all ages to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, and active citizens." As a heavy consumer of textual media, I've concluded that concise documents that focus on their central theses make for effective communications; on that account, this report fails.

The report does highlight some important aspects of fair use in an academic context. For the most part, using educational materials in a classroom setting doesn't run afoul of copyright laws, because the material is typically licensed for display in that arena, and the Copyright Act makes specific exceptions for educational purposes. More problematic are situations where the instructor needs to use some part of a copyrighted work—some music or a film clip—in a new context, such as a study pack or online class supplement.

The report notes that media studies as a field is especially prone to this, as one of its goals is to demonstrate how changing the context of media can change its meaning, but this sort of issue is likely to be widespread in academics. But its authors also note that fair use is clearly established by law, and the guidelines for what constitutes fair use are intentionally flexible. The key legal questions tend to be whether the use in a classroom context transforms the material (usually not a problem) and whether the amount of copyrighted material doesn't go beyond what's needed for educational purposes.

The authors argue that past guidelines on the use of copyrighted material have tended to be conservative, and counsel caution. Unfortunately, a lot of the subsequent advice treated those guidelines as if they were legally established precedent. To counteract that, they have issued a new set of best practices for educators and students.

In general, the document advises that faculty has broad abilities to use copyrighted material in educational materials, "including books, workbooks, podcasts, DVD compilations, videos, Web sites, and other materials designed for learning." But it goes beyond what might be expected, as it argues that curriculum materials that incorporate copyrighted works can be sold, provided that accomplishes an educational purpose. Students are given broad leeway for the use of copyrighted works in assignments but, provided their work is sufficiently transformative, the guidelines argue that they should also be able to perform or distribute their assignments in any context, including online.

In all cases, the guidelines emphasize that any works incorporated into new material need to be properly attributed, and an emphasis should be placed on transformative use and pedagogical value. That advice undoubtedly applies far beyond the media studies field.